Yelrinites
Physiology Yelrinites are roughly 5 foot to 5 foot 10 inches tall, depending on males or females. They are mammalian in nature and appear to have predator features like bifocal eyes and pivoting ears on the top of their head. The front of their mouths are lined with rather sharp teeth, but the back teeth are better equipped for grains and nuts. Their skin is patterned, and tends to be an area of sexual dimorphism between the two -- men have larger stripes and in more frequency than females. Their stomachs have only recently evovled to be able to properly digest grains, vegetables, and other plant material. Before this evolution, it was safe to say Yelrinites were strictly carnivorous creatures. Science and Technology Yelrinites seem to be technologically in-advanced in comparison to most species. Their technology, at best, begins to approach the feudal age in sophistication, and precisely how sophisticated that technology becomes depends on how many individuals have devoted their time to the creation of the piece of technology. Generally, helping graze and gather food is considered a better use of one's time than toying with technology, and hence most modern technology appears unadvanced. The grandest examples of technology so far including hand held farming equipment and aquaducts. Ancient Yelrinites were far more advanced in their technology, capable of phaser technology and early warp engine powered space ships. Society and Culture Yelrinites are highly socialable people -- they seem to live in communities of packs, undoubtedly a hold over from their evolutionary past as pack predators before evolving to grazing omnivores. Their packs seem to spend most of their time working together to farm and gather food during the day. By nightfall, celebration begins, and songs, dance, stories, and food is celebrated by the nightly campfire. The modern size of a successful pack is estimated to be around 40 individuals, not counting children. Yelrinites are often viewed as "clueless" by outside races. Superficially, Yelrinites appear stupid; they often don't comprehend complex instructions and definitely have trouble comprehending implied meanings of words that are not explicitly stated. However, this is typically normal behavior for Yelrinites and does not seem to impact them in their typical day. They do seem capable of complex thought and rationale, but most individuals do not seem to practice it on a day to day basis, leading to fairly shallow conversations and clueless responses to outsiders. Their society is obsessed with politeness and, more generally, "niceness". They have a hard time comprehending doing things that would harm another. When faced with the situation of potentially harming another, whether by accident or being forced to, most Yelrinites panic and fall into fits of uncontrollable fear and sadness. Yelrinites only seem comfortable with conflcit in the face of extreme danger to the entire pack or the Princeps. The Princeps, or literally "First Citizen", is the leader of a Yelrinite pack. Only one Princeps exists, and he typically is decided by either the "smartest" Yelrinite in the pack (which is generally decided as being the most proficient problem solver), or by being born into the role by being the offspring of a previous Princeps. The Princeps' role is to effectively think for the pack, and lead them to prosperity and protection as efficiently as possible. In return for protecting the pack, the pack protects the Princeps with their lives. At nightly meetings, the Princeps and pack traditionally sit together to share ideas, concerns, and worries about everyday happenings. Ancient Yelrinites appeared to be extremely different to the modern Yelrinites. Ancient Yelrinites were far more aggressive in nature and fought amoungst themselves constantly. The role of the Princeps held packs together through power. Ancient Yelrinite packs often included no more than 10 individuals. History By the height of the ancient age, Ancient Yelrinite packs had joined in non-aggressive confederations, resulting in viciously affective minds at problem solving coming together for rapid technological advancement. In a matter of thousands of years, warp capable starships wered developed, and the Yelrinites attempted to begin an interstellar empire. However, Yelrinite aggression backfired. Political disputes caused packs to turn on one another, and advanced technology and weapons warfare was unleahed upon Yelrin. The result was rapid climate change, killing most of the animal life on the planet. Some Yelrin packs attempted to escape to other worlds, while the populations stuck on Yelrin dropped dramatically. In the following millenia, the disorganized and disheveled Yelrinite survivors lost all of their learned technology and were forced to survive on vegetation for survival. Evolving to fit this energy source was harsher and required greater patience from individuals, cultivating more and more individuals with highly non-aggressive personalities, resulting in the modern Yelrinite. References Kriosian